Monday, December 13, 2010

I can hardly believe that our extended Year 0 is quickly coming to a close with Bo. Back when he turned five he began asking me to do school with him. I satisfied him with making our own alphabet book on the days he just had to do something. After the book was finished he kept asking when I would teach him to read. So since August of 2009 we have been doing a Year 0. I began teaching him to read sometime that September.
He has done so well. I gave him a brief BRI (Basic Reading Inventory) test. This testing book was left over from my time as a school teacher. His instructional reading level was 3rd grade. I am so proud of his progress.
He loves reading!
He loves history!
He does well with handwriting.
He loves art and nature study!
Now if I can just get him to love math.
He seems to like it some days when he can count with his soldiers...

Other days, he insists on figuring things out his way, even though he gets the wrong answer. Needless to say, we have had a few talks about heeding instruction, and mommy has had to apologize for impatience.

I am looking forward to Year 1 with Bo and beginning an extended Year 0 with Boo. I have many things I intended to accomplish before this time arrived. Like pre-reading all of our Year 1 books. Well, I have only pre-read about 5 weeks worth of material. I still have to order Right Start Math. Yes, Chris and I have decided to use right start and I am nervous, I feel like I will be learning things right along with him. I purchased Quiet Time For Kids Volume 1 for Bible Time. I am looking forward to January when we began Year 1, but I am enjoying the last few days of Year 0 with him now.

Yes, I know we are beginning Year 1 in January, but this is our little school house on the mountain...right?

Oh and I started reading Fables, by Arnold Lobel about a month ago to practice narrating. He loves narrating! I am so excited, since the Charlotte Mason method is all about narrating to assess learning.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

On this cold, snowy morning see what a nice surprise was waiting on the littles. One of our hens is hatching baby chicks today. Daddy went out to get one and brought it in for the littles to see. He said.....

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Being a mom is hard work. Being a patient mom to four little ones could possibly be the hardest job on the planet. I know because I work at that job day after day. It seems to me that each night as I survey the beautiful mess I purpose to be more patient, give more grace, speak more kindness to each one of my children. I think back over the day, and consider the moments I may have missed. There are days I choose to clean instead of stopping to have a tea party, sometimes I read and never make eye contact when the little ones are telling me something, sometimes I can be way to serious, when I just need to smile and laugh and study each face. The time I have with the little ones entrusted to my care is fleeting. Lately I have let other things take the place of time with the littles. Lately I have been much too impatient. Lately I have been showing frustration much to easily. Even in the midst of the chaos I hear His words. Will I heed them?

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? Romans 2:4

Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. 1 Peter 3:4

She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is one her tongue. Proverbs 31:26

I can see by the look in his eyes that these words are welling up inside.

He needs a chance to speak truth.

And speak truth he does...

"We should really be doing the good things we do, so we can plant our seeds everyday all year long not just at Christmas. We should give to others all year long, not just at Christmas."

(he's referring to the seeds they have been planting each day when they do a good deed...growing grass/straw for the manger on Christmas morning, and choosing gifts from the Samaritan's Purse catalog to give to Jesus)

I sit speechless for a moment...

because he's got it.

He understands!

And I almost missed it because I was in a hurry to hang an ornament on the tree.

Friday, December 3, 2010

We have three apple trees growing in our yard that we planted about a year ago. We decided to use our trees as the basis for our nature study on apple trees. We headed outside with a tape measure and notebook to record the growth of our trees. Hopefully we can keep a check on our trees each fall and note the growth we see.

Here are the boys measuring the height of the Yellow Delicious apple tree.

We measured the height, diameter, and growth from last years pruning on each of our trees. We then recorded this information in their nature notebooks.

Here is Boo drawing the the types of apples we will eventually have growing on our trees.

We have:

Yellow Delicious

Arkansas Black

Cortland

I was very surprised at the growth from pruning on our Yellow Delicious and Arkansas Black apple trees. They grew about 8 inches this year. The Cortland had no new noticeable growth, so I suspect we did not prune that one, therefore the growth wasn't as noticeable.

After recording the information in our nature notebooks, we used apples as stamps and ate a few tasty apples too.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

This post comes a bit late, but I suppose any time is a good time to be thankful. We had an extra special blessing the week of Thanksgiving. After working 21 days straight days daddy was home and ready to play with the littles. So here are the blessings of our week home with daddy...

boys eager to know..."Will you be home when we wake up tomorrow?"...dreading the day when we says..."No, its back to work."

a trip to Bass Pro Shop to window shop...out to eat at Five Guys with the littles

pitter patter of little girl feet in the early morning...running for daddy hugs

mommy and daddy snuggling in bed...being lazy together...littles piled high on both sides

looking out the window and watching those boys follow daddy around

daddy taking the time to take Miss LouLou on a date to the park to swing and ride her bike and eat ice cream on the way home.

daddy and boys fishing at sunset...mommy and girls sitting on the bank watching

roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over a campfire after our fishing trip...daddy camping outside in the yard with the boys

walking in the pasture with daddy...to the pond...to hunt frogs...to the barn...to pet the cats

watching movies together at night...relaxing...littles reward for finishing the story...Old Yeller

Contributors

My Love

Chris and I have been married for 18 years. He is such a wonderful husband but what I love most is watching him be a daddy. He is our protector, provider, priest and prophet and I am forever grateful.

Six Little Quicks

Bo...the oldest

This is our oldest. He's a thinker...asks the hard questions. He loves legos...history...mom's homemade pizza...reading... fishing and hiking. He's our responsible young man. I know God created him for such a time as this and I can't wait to see his plan unfold.

Boo...10 years

This boy has a servant's heart. When I ask for help I know he'll say "sure". He enjoys working with his hands..helping his daddy work around the house makes his day. He loves legos...gardening...shooting his BB gun and hiking.

Miss LouLou...8 years

Miss LouLou is beautiful...independent...sweet...shy. She loves taking care of the younger ones. She holds baby brother and buries her face in his hair and just breathes...she loves his smell...and I love to watch her practice being a mommy. Now with a new sister she is getting more practice than ever. Although she insists she's not getting married...she's living with mommy and daddy forever;-)

Little Bitty...6 years

Little Bitty is giggles and fire and sneaky and cute. She brings laughter and love and snuggles to our day. She's daddy's best buddy and cries when mommy leaves the room...but as soon as she calms down she finds something to get her hands into;-)

Nayna...4years

Nayna is huggable...loveable...and rather loud too. She makes us laugh. She and rooster are best buddies and can make each other scream too. She is already sounding out words and writing them and showing interest in learning to read. No one else has shown an interest at such a young age.

Rooster...3 years

Sweet baby boy...I love to bury my nose in his hair and just breathe...I love to kiss those cheeks dripping with sugar...I love to get a smile from him first thing in the morning...I love the way he reminds me of a fresh start...He is growing in independence and he loves to talk!

"Thank you for letting Jesus in our home." -Bo 3 years

"He settles the barren womanin her homeas the happy mother of children."Praise the Lord!"Psalms 113:9

"Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them."-Charlotte Mason